_ Four U.S. Marines were missing after fierce fighting in the strategic southern city of An Nasiriyah. U.S. and Iraqi forces traded tank and artillery fire there throughout the day and several buildings were ablaze.

_ The biggest bombs dropped on Baghdad so far _ two 4,700-pound bunker busters _ struck a communications tower in an intense U.S. bombardment.

_ Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the overnight airstrikes had killed seven people in Baghdad and wounded 92. The Arab television network Al-Jazeera reported eight people were killed at Baath party headquarters in bombing Friday afternoon.

_ Iraqi paramilitary forces in Basra fired mortars and machine guns on 1,000 Iraqi civilians trying to leave the besieged city, forcing many to retreat, British military officials and witnesses said. An initial group of about 1,000 fled the city safely.

_ The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution to restart a U.N. humanitarian food program for Iraq once the U.S.-led war winds down.

_ Iraqi Kurds are preparing camps to hold as many as 500,000 people fleeing Saddam Hussein's territory, but face severe shortages of tents and other equipment, officials said.

_ Flanked by patrol boats and assault helicopters, the British supply ship Sir Galahad docked at the hard-won port of Umm Qasr, loaded with the first military shipment of relief aid for Iraqi citizens.

_ The U.S. Central Command denied that it had underestimated Iraq's fighting ability but acknowledged that the view from the battlefield may be "more precise" than at headquarters.

_ Allies say they have taken more than 4,000 prisoners of war. But U.S. commanders said they were worried that some Iraqi soldiers who had been allowed to return to their homes in Basra are being forced back into service by paramilitary units loyal to Saddam.

_ Pentagon officials said about 90,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq, with 100,000 to 120,000 more on the way.

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_ Russian President Vladimir Putin called the war the most serious crisis since the end of the Cold War and warned it threatened "global stability and the foundations of international law."